The Local - Revisit

I have heard little things here and there about the Local but haven’t personally been in ages, so I thought it was a good time to follow up and see what’s going on-- so I met my friend Suzanne up there for lunch. I like that they now offer a seasonal menu of offerings, although most of the dishes seem like they might be better suited for dinner—they seemed to be larger things.

We decided to at least get an appetizer to share from the seasonal menu—so we started with the fried zucchini ($8.50).  Hmm… we were kind of torn about this one. The first thing we both notice was it needed salt, which we promptly added. I liked the breading quite a bit on the pieces that were crunchier. Unfortunately, many of the slices of zucchini were a little too big and thin and got really soft before you could get to eat them (and some were a lot less breaded than others).  I really liked the remoulade that was served alongside—it had a bit of heat but also some nice chunks of green onion I’m guessing…and some herbs.  Great slightly hot, slightly tangy, flavor. Overall, we liked them, but they could be improved with a dusting of salt out of the fryer and if they were maybe cut in a different shape that didn’t get quite so soft so quick.

For my lunch, I ordered the chicken Panini ($10). I can’t say that I really liked it that much, other then the bread. I liked the way the bread was nice and crusty and had a good flavor.  It was supposed to have grilled chicken, bacon, tomato, fennel, asiago cheese and mayo. But it was pretty dry. You could barely taste cheese and certainly no mayo.  Honestly it was mostly like a chicken and bacon sandwich.  I did like that the chicken breast was sliced into smaller pieces, but it seemed like several ingredients were missing or in short supply. I finally asked for a side of ranch (their dressings are housemade, and housemade ranch makes me very happy) just to get a little moisture (and some extra flavor) into it.  I had the tater tots on the side and they were very good tots. Nice and crispy.

Suzanne ordered the pork tenderloin ($9.50), which was a way better way to go. The breading was much like that on the zucchini and is very tasty.  The pork is the right amount of thick vs. thin keeping it nice and tender. They use a “special sauce” in place of the common mayo and I like it—enough to give it a little moisture without making it soggy.  I have had the tenderloin before and have enjoyed it and this was no different.

The complaint I have heard fairly frequently is about the service though—and our experience was not great. It started out good because they weren’t too crowded when we got there.  But as lunch progressed, our server seemed a bit in the weeds (she appeared to have all the outside tables). And I think the kitchen was too. 

Even though it wasn’t a stellar meal for me, I am intrigued to try some of the seasonal menu items for dinner (they have skate!). At some point I need to get back up there with hubby and give it another go. I like what they seem to be trying to do with changing things up by the season, and using lots of local ingredients. I just have yet to have a top to bottom great experience.

The Local Eatery & Pub

14655 Gray Road

Westfield, IN 

317/218-2786

www.localeateryandpub.com 

The Local Eatery & Pub- Revisit

I know it hasn't been that long since I last reviewed The Local, but the other night I really wanted to go to Pizzology for soft shell crabs, and I dragged hubby up to Carmel just after he had gotten off a plane.  The wait was too long for him (he was starving) and even the bar was full, so I remembered that the Local was close by, and we went there instead.  It was quite crowded as well, but we could at least sit at the bar and get a drink while we waited.  Also, since a lot of people hassled me over my last review of The Local, so I thought I should give it another try.

We started with the warm goat cheese appetizer ($9.50) which I quite enjoyed.  Seems like a lot of people have this on the menu, but they are almost always prepared the same way—surrounded by marinara.  Which is good too, but it is nice to see a little change of pace.  This one was the goat cheese with some olive oil and several cloves of roasted garlic—the mellow but rich garlic was a good combination with the slightly tangy goat cheese.  It was served with toasted bread that was crisp, but not burnt and soft enough to not hurt your teeth. 

After my recommendation from the last time I was there, hubby had the chicken fried pork tenderloin sandwich with their house cut fries ($9.50) and I tried the Portobello burger with fries ($9.50).  Several people had recommended the Portobello burger to me after my first review, and it was good.  It was a whole grilled Portobello mushroom cap with Havarti cheese, red onions, lettuce, tomato and their house sauce.  This is the same sauce that is on the tenderloin.  The mushroom was marinated and was tender and flavorful and went well with the cheese and the house sauce which I think was mayo, mustard and maybe horseradish.  The sauce kicked up the toppings just the right amount.  The bun was nice and soft—my only complaint being that the bottom bun was quite thin, and because mushrooms hold a lot of water, the bottom bun was pretty soggy. I turned it upside down and ate it that way to keep it all together.  But it tasted good.  The fries have a fresh potato flavor, but they were still a little cold to me, and thus, a bit soft.

Hubby agreed with my past sentiments about the tenderloin and also thought it was good—he was not a huge fan of the house sauce on the sandwich though because he thought it was a little too overpowering for the sandwich.  The tenderloin itself is very tender inside though and nice and crunchy on the outside—the breading is fuller than most—more like a double fried piece of chicken (hence the name, “chicken fried” pork tenderloin sandwich I suppose).  He agreed with me about the fries and thought he might try the tater tots next time, just because they might stay crisper, even though they are not house made.

We also shared the “beignets” for dessert.  These were pretty good, with a caramelly dipping sauce, but according to hubby and his New Orleans experience, they were not really beignets.  They were more like donut sticks—denser through the middle than traditional beignets, and certainly larger.  They were also covered with cinnamon sugar quite thickly.  Traditionally I think beignets are lightly fried and dusted with powdered sugar.  But, although they weren’t really what we were expecting, they were hot and fresh and tasted good dipped in the warm caramel sauce.

You certainly have to appreciate the fact that they are using a lot of local ingredients and products (hubby enjoyed his cocktail made with Indiana vodka) and that they are doing something independent in this area where so much is chains.  The interior is a little gray for me, and quite bare, but in general the staff is friendly (if not a bit crazed).  The place was packed, and I can see how it offers a good alternative if this is your side of town.

The Local Eatery & Pub

14655 Gray Road

Westfield, IN

317/218-2786

www.localeateryandpub.com

The Local Eatery & Pub

My Dad and I laughed on the way to the place about the fact that it was pretty much a guarantee that one of us would like this place and the other would not, since we rarely tend to agree on restaurants, but they were game for trying somewhere new with me anyway.  We were on the Northside, so we figured we would check out The Local, based on a a lot of recommendations.

So it is in a strip mall at 146th and Gray Road, and is somewhat set back, which is probably somewhat of a disadvantage (and based on all the signs on the roadside saying they are open, my guess is a lot of people have no clue there is a restaurant back there).  But we knew it was there, and headed in.  The first thing I noticed was the entrance is somewhat disjointed from the place.  There is a bar side and a restaurants side with a door somewhat in the middle that hardly looks connected to either part.  But we went in and were promptly seated in the bar (I am assuming if you had a kid with you, you would be seated on the other side, although there was no one over there the day we were there).

So they sort of pride themselves on making things in house, with the exception of the tator tots that are on the menu.  So we tried a variety of things.  Let me start with the highlight of the meal--my Dad ordered the chicken fried pork tenderloin sandwich.  It was really good.  The breading a little lighter and I don't know, more loosely stuck to the meat than your usual pork tenderloin.  Not so crunchy I guess.  But this was a damn good sandwich.  The pork itself was really tender, and as my Dad pointed out, there wasn't a single bite that was fatty or gristly at all (I only had about a quarter of the sandwich).  There was a nice flavor in there too that was a little horseradish-y almost.  Not sure if they seasoned up the mayo a bit, but the sandwich had just a tiny bit of a kick.  It was served on a properly portioned soft bun with lettuce and red onion. It was well done.

Mom and I split the fried chicken drumsticks and the mushroom and goat cheese flat bread as well as some of their hand cut fries.  Interestingly, there were wings and the drumsticks on the menu, and they first brought us an order of the wings by mistake which we sent back.  But the drumsticks were way larger than the wings, and looked so much better (although I didn't try the wings).  They were regular sized legs that were fried and rolled in sauce, much like wings (we got the regular barbecue sauce) but were nice because they were so much bigger. There were 5 of them on the plate (even though the picture only shows 4).  The meat was maybe a touch dry, but the sauce was flavorful, with a smoky flavor with just a touch of heat.  They need to give you some wet wipes with these though--eating barbecue sauce coated chicken legs makes for some serious sticky fingers.  But would I order them again? Not with that tenderloin as an option.

The big disappointment of the day was the flatbread. Honestly, we thought it was pretty bad.  The crust was that thin cracker-type crust which can be good when done right, but this one was really soft under the toppings and really hard on the edges.  And the "sauce" on the flatbread was basically a caramelized onion paste that was spread around on the crust.  It was topped with dollops of goat cheese and slices of what seemed like completely raw shitake mushrooms.  This thing just did not come together at all for me.  The whole thing wasn't warm enough, and the mushrooms should have been cooked.  Preferably like sauteed with some seasonings beforehand---especially if you are using this kind of a mushroom--they were really dense.  The toppings over all just came across as too dry. I don't know how you would fix this, as there were so many things going wrong with it in my mind.  My mom agreed and refused to even take the leftovers home (my parents are big leftover people).

The fries were handmade and had a nice flavor--they were maybe just a little soft for me, but on the whole, I liked them.  But again, a place only serving ketchup alongside, which seems uninspired to me.

I guess I didn't expect quite so many bar food type things on the menu---from what people were telling me, I was expecting something a little more fresh food oriented or something, and less of all the deep fried stuff.  But the tenderloin was good, worth ordering again (and with the fries). 

The Local Eatery & Pub
14655 Gray Road
Noblesville, IN 46062
317/218-3786
http://www.localeateryandpub.com/